PATNA: Food and consumer protection ministerShyam Rajak on Monday said that Bihar has almost attained the distinction of being one of the frontline foodgrains producing states like Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh with record agriculture production and procurement of 22 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of paddy to meet its foodgrains requirement.

Rajak told the media here that his ministry has asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) not to bring rice from other states to Bihar as the state has reached the capacity of supplying foodgrains to the BPL families and also those covered under Antyoday

CRISIL Ratings has come out with its report on Indian rice. As per the rating agency India’s rice exports is expected to reach around 7 million tonnes in 2011-12, up from 2.2 million tonnes in 2010-11.